nation and the campaign. it played out against the back drop of the american bicentennial. ..

>> caller: hi. my question has to do when ford lost to carter and once he established the buddy ford center. >> host: okay, gus, you sound like a younger viewer. how old are you? >> caller: i'm eight. >> host: eight years old. why are you watching the program tonight? >> caller: because my family is really into presidents and first ladies. >> host: and are you interested too? >> caller: yes. >> host: do you have a favorite president or favorite first lady? >> caller: favorite president

is lincoln and first lady is mrs. obama. >> guest: where do you live? >> caller: georgia. >> host: have you been to warm springs, georgia. >> host: yes. >> guest: i'm impressed. >> host: thank you so much for the call. it was about the campaign. >> guest: she felt badly. people remember it. you know, he lost his voice at the very end of the campaign, and it was left to the first lady, another first, i think, to read the concession statement and telegram of congratulations that had been sent to president-elect carter. at the same time, you know, she wouldn't miss life in politics. he had promised her long before watergate that they were going to retire in 1976.

once he concluded he would not be speaker of the house, she had exacted a promise that after 1976, they would leave washington, go back to grand rapids, practice law, had no money, make a little bit of money for the kids and so on, and intervening events played havoc with that, but they left washington to go to another destination. >> host: we talked about the struggles with alcohol when he was in the house of representatives. here's what she wrote about this in the white house years. the next problem got worse and my pills were always with me. still, i didn't not drink alcoholically in the white house. there was too much at stake. what little drinking we did was confined to camp david on a weekend or drinks upstairs before we went to bed. now she said the pills were always with me. how big a problem was this for her in her white house years? >> guest: you know, i don't know how to answer that.

she's a circumstantial alcoholic, if there is such a thing, and as far as the pills are concerned, you mentioned 33 state dinners. she was in all of them, a vital host, and so i'm not sure that the problem really erupted when they left washington. i mean, it was a significant problem before the presidency, and it was a almost lethal problem after the presidency, but ironically, those two and a half years in the white house was less of a problem. >> host: the state dinners, welcomed queen elizabeth in the

bicentennial, and we'll go back to the ford museum to learn about the visit. >> in august, vice president ford was sworn in as president of the united states. this was the dress worn at the swearing in ceremony in the eastern room of the white house. she was less than excited about becoming first lady, but president ford encouraged her, saying we can do this. she resolved if i have to do this, i'm beginning to have fun doing it, and the fun started immediately, within ten days, she had a state dinner to entertain kings of jordan, and it was something that she had to prepare for as role as first lady, and she hit the ground running. while first lady, she had a number of opportunities to entertain because president ford as another mrgs overlapped the bicentennial. the most coveted events at the white house were held during that year, and people wanted these invitations,mented to

receive the invitations, so this one is for the may 17, 1976 event when they entertained the president of france, but there were a number of notable people who came to the white house, and emperor of japan, this is a letter received from him in appreciation for hosting him in 1975. the first time an emperor ever left japan. here's some of the invitations, dinner menus from probably the biggest event, and that is when we hosted queen elizabeth in july of 1976. this is the gift that the queen of england presented to the president and mrs. ford and to the people of the united states. it's a builded and e nameabled

suit tear rein. there's a hand painted image of the white house, and it was thee official gift of great britain to the united states celebrating the 200th anniversary of the united states. she wrote a nice letter back to the fords thanking them for their hospitality and for the friendship to the queen and people of england. the queen writes to the president and ford, it was the greatest pleasure for us to visit the united states and to be able to join in the celebrations, and she signs it, we send our warm good wishes to you and mrs. ford, your sincere friend, elizabeth. >> we have a couple questions that follow from that. i have to ask, norma from facebook, the cherry trees and pandas mentioned as gifts to the nation in past episodes, comment on any other significant gifts

still in the white house and how the rules developed over history about gifts given to the nation that were considered personal gifts. alsoings what gifts have first ladies, in this case, ford specifically, given to foreign dignitaries in their trips to the white house? >> guest: oh, gosh. you know, i'm not sure exactly when the law changed that made all gifts, in effect, federal property. if you go to the woodrow wilson house in washington, for example, you see all sorts of gorgeous things that president wilson was begin on his european travel towards the end of his presidency. i think i -- i think it begins with a kennedy presidency. >> host: did betty start any white house printing? you're thinking hard there. >> guest: i know.

you know, it's interesting. she broke the mold more than she batted tradition. i think we regret in terms of what we expect a first lady to address, what issues, what controversies, and the like, so, no, that's a tradition she didn't. >> host: would this be your answer to sheldon cooper who asks how did the white house difference from other administrations? >> guest: in a number of ways. some are fairly -- for example, she restored the round table at dinner. she thought it was much more informal, led to conversation, and one of the other things she did is she did not, for example, go on a decorating -- there is

on the second floor, a private family dining room, and kennedy located some spectacular and historically french wall paper in the revolution, and there's military terms, and mrs. ford was the respect of the face, and nevertheless, i just sit there and watch the people with each other on battlefields, and they had the paper removed. i think they had it put back. >> host: before we leave the white house here, they lived in vail, colorado for a while, and virginia, washington, d.c., grand rapids, michigan, vail, colorado, and palm spring, california. >> guest: that's right. at the time the president passed

away, planning the funeral, there were a number of personal touches, and one was when there was no -- no processions in the streets of washington. instead, the hearse drove through their old neighborhood in al exandrai, and they stopped at the world war ii memorial to recognize his service in the war. >> host: 1976, the bicentennial and hotly contested presidential election. the campaign had a slogan, vote for betty's husband, how was she used in the 1976 campaign? >> guest: there's controversy about that. there's a debate about that. people think she was misused, overused, that she was a gradual delegate figure. she was certainly very active in

the primary campaign, in the ford-reagan race. there are people who remember that the convention, sort of the dualing candidates wives, the entrance of mrs. reagan to the convention hall, entrance of mrs. ford, who, by the way, had the great good fortune in her mind to be introduce the by grant, which is pretty impressive. in the fall campaign, there's a school of thought saying she was not used as well as she might have been. >> host: dan is watching us in west bloomfield, michigan. hi, dan. >> caller: hi, i appreciate the time, and i was going to say the museum in grand rapids, been there a couple times, and it's a great place to visit and enjoy, and glad to have gone there. curious, the post-white house years, how much time did they spend in grand rapids, and where

did they go after they left the white house and upton, california? >> guest: good question. they had been out to the area in palm springs in the past, vacationed out there, and the weather was perfect for her health, her arthritis, a significant issue in addition to her other health problems, so, you know, they decided -- they changed their plans, which originally envisioned going back to grand rapids. the president came back to grand rapids very often. i know because i was director at library for 60 years. he would come back. gosh, we started every year at christmas time, he comes back and turns on the christmas tree. he would come back -- we did a series from the 25th anniversary of his inauguration, and we had

john paul stevens, alan greenspan, and he would fly from california -- he would come back just to introduce those people. he felt so honored that they would make that effort. mrs. ford came less frequently. they had a running gag. they divided the country in half for fundraising purposes. he had america east of the mississippi. she had the united states west of the mississippi. >> host: a.j. in virginia, one of the homes to the ford family. hi, a.j.. i have to push the button. hi, a.j.. >> caller: i'm curious if there's a specific reason why the first lady invited kings and saints for the first dinner hosted at the white house. >> guest: well, you know, it's interesting. she -- the president became president on august 9, on august 10th, she was informed almost as a matter of factually, by the

way, you know that king hussein is coming in a week's time, so she had nothing to do. this is something that was arake #* range -- arranged in the nixon administration, and she, literally, within the first 24 hours was kind of thrown in, sink or swim, to organize a state dinner for the king of jordan. >> host: 1976 campaign, the big talent in the party as suggested, and so a lot of work during the primary when president ford had the nomination, a hard fought campaign with carter, governor the georgia, and by the time election night came and the ford lost his speech, he asked the first lady to give the concession speech. we'll watch a little of that now. >> the president asked me to tell you he telephoned president-elect carter to congratulate him on the victory. the president also wants to

thank all those thousands of people who worked so hard on his behalf and the millions who supported him with their votes. it's been the greatest honor of my husband's life to have served his fellow americans during two of the most difficult years in our history. the president urges all americans to join him in giving your united support to president-elect carter as he prepares to assume his new responsibilities. >> host: people faces that and always are. >> guest: it was tough. remember, they came from so far behind, and i think -- i mean, every candidate believes they will win, but he never lost an election, and you can see the

look on the kids' face. >> host: went into history as the only person in american history to serve both as vice president and president of the united states without ever having to face the public and won the electoral vote. it was not much longer after that that the intervention, as we've talked about, with the family members occurred. we'll listen to steve ford tell the story of that intervention as the family realized the extent of betty ford's problem with alcohol and with drugs. >> you know, i think we sense something during the presidency. we didn't know the combination of alcohol and pain medications produced a cocktail that, at times, took away some of her sharpness and those kinds of things, but eventually, it had to play out. i mean, it had to get to the

other side of the presidency where i think it created a time for mom after the presidency where she was not first lady anymore. she was out in california. dad was traveling again a lot, and building a new home, kids were -- they were all gone, and slowly, over months and months and months, she developed a melancholy, turnedded into depression, pulled back from life, canceled appointments, and not showing up, sleeping in late, slurred speech, all those things. that takes months. we didn't know what we were looking at. i mean, we were like millions of other families that, what's wrong with mom? it was not the education about alcoholism and drug dependency that there is now. it took dad -- dad searched through several doctors before finding a doctor that had the courage to say your wife's an

alcoholic. that was not just the image anybody accepted. found the right doctor, dad -- excuse me -- had the courage to say we're going to do this intervention, the whole family went in, did the intervention with mom, and, you know, at that time, i never heard the word "intervention," and now you got tv shows that do it. it was a different time. we did it. dad led the intervention, and my memory of that is very clear. he walked in the door that morning, all the kids, dad, surprised mom, took her hand and said, betty, we're here because we love you, the kids want their mother back, i want my wife back, and those interventions are tough. i mean, that is tough, hard, hard, hard work. a lot of tears. a lot of crying. a lot of raised voices. a lot of hugs, more raised voices, denial, and not denial, and i mean, it goes back and

forth. it's a tug-of-war. he never gave up, held her hand, betty, we love you, trust us. we woke her up, she did the work. >> as many of you probably know, 15 years ago this april, i participated in a treatment program for prescription druggings and alcohol dependence. today, i am a very grateful recovering alcoholic, and i know firsthand that treatment does work. >> host: we see her talking about her successful treatments. we have to see her command of speech making versus the others shown that's marketly different. >> guest: well, no, that's true. some think like -- seeing this confident, commanding figure to the end of her life, she had

butterflies before going on stage, which was gsh i'm curious, she was terrified, and a part of that is the perfectionism bred in her by her motherment one thing we don't talk about is we talked about a yes genetic disposition to alcohol. some think it was an emotional disposition as well. you know, she writes particularly in an wakening about the emptiness and low self-esteem and sensitive about the fact she didn't have a college degree, for example, and i think, again, at a time when earlier in her life, her husband -- his career was taking off, and by the time they came back to southern california, he was out on the road -- and -- look at that -- he was out on the road, almost as often as he had been before, and now the kids were gone, and so that

emptiness in effect became everything. it was easier for her to slip back into the old habits. >> host: what you heard from richard norton's cell phone going off. that was the sound. we have a lot to cover in a short time. would you tell us how her treatment at a facility in california led to the creation of the betty ford center? >> guest: yes. after the intervention in april of 1978, she was kicked into long beach hospital and, you know, shouldn't be sentimentalized or romanced, but it was a gritty, very demanding, somewhat risky period. she didn't want to be there. she made it very clear, for example, that she didn't want to share a room with, you know, three other faces.

she had a statement she was there because she was -- which was true, but far from true, they pushed her and pushed her to, in effect, reveal the full truth that she had an alcohol problem. she was detoxified there, and that was not pleasant, but within a week, she was toasting the future in fruit juice, and -- well, it was the beginning of a whole new life in a lot of ways. her neighbor was a man named leonard firestone, a successful businessman, he was an alcoholic as well, and about a year after

her successful intervention, fords and their friends, went with the firestones, and to make a long story short, they decided together to go to the eisenhower medical center with the idea for what became the betty ford center. >> host: and it was co-founded in 1982. how long did she serve as its chair? >> guest: until, i want to say 2005. >> host: late 80s? >> guest: yes. >> host: with an active chair raising money? >> guest: very active, very hands-on, said her friend hated to see her coming because they knew she would fundraise. she was a phenomenally successful fundraiser. >> host: do you have any sense about how many people have. successfully treated? >> guest: thousands. i don't know. also, they used to -- every year -- may still, i don't know, an alumni event, and the president was so proud of her

that the alumni event you could find her sort of holding course, and he was cooking hot dogs, you know, for the alumni. he also said, about ten years ago, that when history books were written, her contributions for america would be considered greater than his own. >> host: susi in oregon, hello, you're on. are you there? all right. moving on. samuel in virginia, hi. >> caller: hi, hi, professor smith, this is samuel. i enjoyed being a student in your class this semester, george mason university, i enjoyed it a lot and on television. >> guest: thank you. >> caller: last year in class, you talked about how president ford and carter became friends in 1981 on the way to the funeral on the plane. i wanted to ask -- you didn't talk about how betty ford and rose carter were friends. i wanted to know how that event

transpiredded. >> guest: glad you asked because just as unlikely a friendship developed between the two former presidents, wife-wise, mrs. ford and carter had a whole lot in common. they teamed up, for example, to become a pretty forming lobby payer. they would testify before congress for funding, for example, for mental health programs, which, of course, was of special interest to mrs. carter's and for the work that mrs. ford was doing on alcohol and drug dependence sigh issues. >> host: kyle wants to know what kind of relationship did the fords have with the nixons after leaving washington? >> guest: perfectly friendly. i think to be perfectly honest with you, you couldn't go through watergate and the pardon and have it not affect the kind of old casual friendship that

they enjoyed. i remember seeing them together at the time that the nixon library was dedicated in 1990. >> host: gerald ford post-presidency, active on corporate boards and party politics, lived int the age of? >> guest: 93, the longest lived american president to this day. >> host: we have video of the casket in state and the capitol building. can you talk about -- there's mrs. ford there. talk about her role in planning the service. >> guest: well, she was very much a part of it. she -- we had a number of meetings to begin, actually, several years out, and, of course, it evolved in the military district of washington, the professionals there, and said the one thing he was adamant, he did not want a horse drawn case through the streets of washington, and she kept

saying, keep it simple, keep it simple, think of the kids because to her, this was only partly a public event. this was first and foremost a family event. >> host: did any of the ford children entertain political careers teems -- themselves? >> guest: i know jack was interested in a while, gave serious thought in running, but i don't think any others have. >> host: how long after her husband did she die and how? >> guest: died on july 8, 2008, which is about four and a half years, and he died of being 93. >> host: we have a photograph of their grave sites. tell us about this site and what their design was for it? >> guest: yeah, this was something that was always, in effect, built into the plan. a ford museum is located on the banks of the grand river in downtown grand rapids, and from

the beginning, it was planned, as of course was the case with many recent presidents that they would be entoured at the site of their libraries or museums, very simple design, as you can see, built into the hillside there. it's a really pretty spot, and they chose the words themselves. i will say quickly, right after the president passed in december of 2005 -- yeah -- mrs. ford had the house -- always green out front, and for christmas, they put white lights in the trees, and she left them on that year, past the christmas season, and

someone asked her why. she turned on the lights every night, and that's how every knew she was okay. >> host: both lived to 93 years old, five years separated them in age, she was a widow the five last years of her life. we close the program asking the guests about the legacy of the women we're profiling, but tonight, it's put in the words of another president. in 1999, gerald and betty ford received the congressional gold medal, and at that ceremony, president bill clinton spoke about betty ford's legacy and her work with helping people with alcohol and drug addiction after she left the white house, and we'll close with that. >> perhaps no first lady in our history with the possible exception of elenor roosevelt touched some -- so many of us in such a personal way. because i lost my mother to breast cancer, betty ford is a

heroine to me. because my family was victimized by alcoholism, and i know what it's like to see good, fine people stare into the abyss of their own personal dispair. i will be forever grateful for the betty ford clinic and for the millions of other people whose lives have literally been turned around and often saved, may not have gone to that clinic, but went somewhere because she showed them it was not wrong. for a good person and a strong person to be imperfect and ask for help. you gave us a gift, and we thank you. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪

>> president obama said the fight with hiv/aids is far from over. he spoke after world aids day, observed each year on december 1st. the president was joined by secretary of state john kerry and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. the event was 40 minutes. [applause] >> hello. [applause]

thank you, thank you, thank you, everybody, please, have a seat, well, thank you, grant, for your outstanding leadership of the office of national aids policy and thanks to all of you for being here. this is a pretty distinguished crowd, i have to say. it is wonderful to be here. i should say, actually, welcome back, because many 6 you joined us before as we mark new milestones in the fight against hiv and aids, and i'm honored that you could join us in commemorating world aids day, which was yesterday. this is a time for remembering the friends and loved ones that we lost, celebrating the extraordinary progress, thanks to people in the room that we've been able to make, and most importantly, recommitting ourselves to the mission that we share, which is achieving an aids-free generation. i epsz want to welcome ministers

from our partnered countries, members of my administration, including secretary sebelius, john kerry, congresswoman lee, mark dival from the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis, and malaria, and we have here francis collins from the national institute of health, and michelle from u.n. aids, and debra who is carrying on the great work as the acting global aids coordinator and many friends from the philanthropic world including bill gates, so, thank you, all, for joining us here today. every year, this is a moment to reflect on how far we've come since early days of the aids end epidemic, and those of you who lived through it remember all too well the fear and the stigma and how hard people with hiv had

to fight to be heard or be treated with decent compassion. you remember how little we knew how to prevent aids or how it treat it. what we knew is the devastation inflected, striking down vibrant men and women in the time of their lives spreading to city to city, country to country seemingly overnight. today, that picture has transformed thanks to the courage and love of some of you in this room and around the world awareness soars, research surged, prevention, treatment, and care save millions of lives in the richest countries and the world's poorest countries as well. for many, with testing and access to the right treatment, the disease that was once a death sentence now comes with a good chance of a health department and wonderful life. you'll have a partner in me, and

i said if the united states wanted to be the global leader in combating this disease, then we needed to agent like it by doing our part and by leading the world to do more together, and that's what we've done in partnership with some of you. we created the first aids strategy rooted in a simple vision, that every person should get access to a life extending care, regardless of age, gender, race, or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. we continue to support the ryan white care act to help under served communitities and people with hiv are no longer bar from the united states, which led to the international aids conference being held here last year for the very first time in over 20 years. this summer, iished an executive order creating hiv care continuum initiative to boost federal efforts to prevent and treat hiv. last month, i signed hiv organ

policy equity act to finally allow research into organ donations between people with hiv. that step achieved with bipartisan support, and thanks to the affordable care act, millions of insured americans will be tested free of charge. americans who were uninsured now have access to affordable health care coverage and beginning in january, no american is denied health insurance because of their hiv status. now, on world aids day, two years ago, i announced aadditional dwhrr 35 million for the aids drug assistance program, which helped people pay for life saving medications. at one time, the need was so great, that over 9,000 people were on the wait list. we've vowed to get the numbers down, and i'm proud to announce that, as of last week, we cleared the wait list, down to 0, and we're going to keep -- [applause]

so we're making progress, but we're all here today because we know how much work remains to be done. here in the united states, we need to keep focusing on investments to communities that are still being hit hardest including gay and bisexual men, african-americans, and latinos, we have to keep up the fight in our cities including washington dc, which in recent years reduced infections by nearly half. we have to keep pursuing scientific breakthroughs. i'm pleased to announce a new initiative at the national institute of health research for an hiv cure directing 100 million to a new generation of therapies because the united states should be at the fore front of new discoveries in putting hiv in long term remission without therapies, or better yet, eliminate it completely. of course, this fight extends

far beyond our borders. when i became president, i inherited president bush's plan to help millions around the world to receive life saving treatment. we have not just sustained the efforts. we've we've expanded them, reaching, serving more people, especially mothers and children. we reached a wonderful milestone, the 1 millionth baby born without hiv. that alongside -- [applause] that alongside the rapid deline in hiv infections and aids in africa 6789 on my visit to africa this year, i visited a clinic run, and i had the honor of spending time with some of their extraordinary young patients and counselors and outreach workers and doctors, and every day they are doing

extraordinary work. you can't help be be inspired what they do every day in part thanks to the support of the united states of america. they are saving lives and they are changing the way the country approaches this disease, and that's work that we have to continue to advance. world aids day two years ago, i said new prevent and treatments like increasing the number of mothers reached to prevent their children from becoming infected and helping six million people get treatment by the end of 2013. today, i'm proud to announce that we not only reached the goal, but we exceeded our treatment targets, so we helped 6.7 million people receive life saving treatment and we'll keep doing that. [applause] this is why, after i leave today, i'm proud to sign the stewardship and oversight act to keep the program going strong. [applause]

kind of a legislator to applaud legislation. [laughter] looking ahead, it's time for the world to come together to set new goals. right now, we are working hard to get a permanent leader in place, and once we do, one of the first items of business will be convening a meeting early next year so that the united states and our partners worldwide including governments, the global funds, and u.n. aids, and civil society, around one fable and have prevention, and we'll hold each other accountable and work to turn the tide of the epidemic together. that includes keeping up our support, and that speak for itself, and it's helped 140

million people receive antiretroviral therapies, and now it's time to replenish the fund. the united states will cricket $11 -- contribute $1 for every $2 pledged, over $5 billion total from the united states, and the united kingdom made a similar promise, so -- [applause] today, i urge those in the meetings, today and tomorrow, to take up the commitment, don't leave our money on the table it's inspiring to see the countries most affected # by the disease, increase their own contribution to this fight, and in some cases, providing more than donor countries do, and that often inspires us to give more and do more so we save more lives. after all, none of the progress made against aids could have been achieved by a single government or foundation or

corporation working alone. the results of countless people including so many of you working together from countries large and small, philanthropies, universities, media, civil society, activists, and more than anything, it's to the people living with hiv around the world who shared their stories, strength, dignityings recognized, and led the fight to spare others' anguish of this disease. you know, we can't change the past or undo wrenching pain, but what we can do and have to do is charter a different future dpieded by our love for those we couldn't save. that allows us to do everything we can, everything in the power to save those that we can. that's my commitment to you as president. the united states of america will remain the global leader in the fight against hiv and aids. we will stand with you every step of this journey until we

reach the day that we know is possible, when all men and women protect themselves from infection, a day with all people with hiv have access to the treatments that extend their lives, that they, when there's no babies born with hiv or aids, and when we a achieve what was hard to imagine, an aids-free generation. that's the world i want for my daughters, the world that all of us want for our families, and if we stay focused, fight, and if we honor the memory of those that we lost, if we summon the courage they displayed, by insisting on whatever it takes however lounge it takes, i believe we'll win the fig, and i'm confident that we'll do so together. thank you very much for the extraordinary efforts. appreciate it. god bless. thank you. [applause] thank you. [applause] good work.

[applause] [applause] >> thank you, everybody, i'm not grant colfax, but friend and colleague. the president's leadership extends across the administration, in the room, leaders from across the government at the top, middle, people who work every day to win the fight. it's my pleasure to now introduce one of them who's been a champion in this fight in two blanches of government, and remains a leader for us today, ladies and gentlemen, secretary of state, john kerry. [applause]

>> thank you very much, thank you for the tremendous leadership, collaboration in this effort, and to all colleagues in the obama administration, all of whom the president, most of whom, many of whom the president named, grateful to you for being here, being a part of this, and i thank the president for convening this really rather remarkable group of leaders, activists on this challenging and monumental issue. the president's commitment and his follow-through and his fundmental belief in the possibility of an aids-free generation and hard work of you combines to put that extraordinary goal within our

grasp. amazing as it may seem. i want to thank my colleague, sebelius, for her tremendous leadership in hhs and our leader of aid on the front lines helping to make sure that this gets implemented, and all of you who have been so critical to being able to bring us to where we are, i might remark that the hiv is really the work within hhs on hiv, really set the gold standards for the world, makes me verying very proud of that. i'm also glad that deborah and julia martin and john from the state department are all here. they are leading our efforts to implement the blueprint writing a brand new chapter in the president's fight against aids.

a special thank you to bill gates. bill and i are -- we share a deep commitment to try to improve lives of others, giving away billions of dollars, and i give shorter speeches. [laughter] that's about the match. there are so many remarkable aids warriors assembled here. scientists and public servants, researchers, and advocates, republicans, and democrats, all of whom put ideology, partisanship, party, and even nation state aside in the interest to try to embrace a much larger global vision, a universal vision, and by reaching across disciplines,

states, across the aisle and across the world simultaneously, everybody here helped tap into what we like to think are the deepest value of the country, but happily are shared by so many other countries and so many other people around the world. one thing that has stood out on the issue of my point of view, i sat where barbara lee, she's in the house, i was in the senate, but we were in the same endeavor, and whether it's barbara lee and senator bill frist, jessi and myself, came to that table and helped us pass this unanimously in the united states senate, and in matter how deep the political differences were, we all managed to be able to find a way for this issue to unite us, and in our collective refusal to allow aids to ravage yet another generation, we

showed a deeper determination to meet our global responsibilities. that's what's happening here. this is not a small deal. i want to compliment congress, barbara, for continuing the tradition and passing the stewardship and oversight act which the president just talked about they are looking forward to signing. when you really consider how we bridge those differences and the distance that we traveled and that this gorpny is in that much more remarkable. i can really remember back? 1991 when we join as chairs of the csis task force to study hiv aids and very little is known about it. i remember the fear then, literally, and in politics, it was a tricky thing to talk about publicly. as recently as ten years ago,

aids was a death sentence for many. experts warned that in parts of the world, we reached a point, literally, of no return, but what i remember most and what i'm privileged to be part of every step of the way is how everybody came together to push back against the pessimism, and the leaders in this room and entire communities, entire countries raised -- ravaged by aids, you saw the challenge, you didn't see someone else's crisis. you saw our shared humanity and our shared responsibility, and now, with this world aid's day yesterday and convening here today, and with the conference that will take place tonight and tomorrow, we are really renewing that commitment, and it's

appropriate, obviously, even as we do so to think of those lost in the battle who were too late like we were too late in order to save them, and we remember a lot of friends. i can remember many members supporters of mine and others and political life in the community who were going to funeral after future rail after funeral, and there was a massive pessimism within the community and sense that this was overwhelming and there was no way to win this. well, it is clear that we are now turning a very important corner, but it is not one. there is major challenge ahead, and it will require major continued commitment in order to complete the task and live up to the memory that we want to honor all those for whom it was too late. in africa, new hiv infections down by nearly 40% since 2001.

aids related mortality decline by nearly one-third since its peak in 2005, and globally, new infections among children have been cut in half in a decade. access to life saving treatment has increased close to 40-fold. i'm pleased to note that we have achieved much of this because president obama was determine to set a higher standard. he sort of glassed over it in the own comments, but that was a very significant commitment. on world aids day two years ago, the president challenge us to reach six million more people with life saving treatment to provide 1.5 million hiv positive pregnant women with treatment for their own health and to prevent onward transmission to their children and to reach 4.7 million men with voluntary medical male circumcision services for hiv.

these pushed us further, to be innovative, forge partnerships incoming with you here in the room, and as a result, you all are now reaching more people and more lives saved than ever before. now, to meet the challenge of the second decade, and we'll emphasize this, i know, we have to transform america's role. and we need no clearer example of the transformation that we need to realize in south africa, rwanda, and libya, which all you have to do is look at the work they are doing with the country health partnership, and these countries provide a model for how they are transitioning for providing direct aid to delivering support for locally run and self-staining efforts. this is a vital transformation,

and greater commitments in the fund should give greater confidence to this initiative. i'm extremely encouraged by the increased investments, from the united kingdom, denmark, norway, sweden, and canada as well as from germany and france, and all of them are extending their high levels of commitment, and as the president just said to you, don't leave our money on the table. if everybody steps up, we'll do more and meet the challenge. it's a great honor to host the fourth replacement conference in washington this week, and as i speak to the conference this evening, it's safe to say with are chartering a new writing, a new chapter in this work. when it comes to the global fund, there's also lessons to learn beyond our financial leadership to wit the way that we have leveraged our

commitments inspires greater contributions from other nations, and we show their strategic leadershipment i add it's fair to say that engagement, which the president touched on, is, frankly, inspiring a truly global effort, and we're proud it's doing so. as we continue to confront the global challenge of aids, we are literally in a position to build on a great american legacy. we are, as you all know, proudly, the nation that defeated the axis powers, and then turned around and invested billions of dollars in their recovery. that is made all the difference to a power house like germany, and an ally like japan, and to europe itself. we are the nation that faced down the soviet union with the force of our ideals and our alliances. without resorting to the force of arms.

now no exaggeration, in this time, in this generation, in this fight against aids, yes, in a different way, but no less important, we are able to engage there initiatives that can help define our nation and global spirit. if we continue to make the right choices, our work will provide for greater possibilities, and i want you just to think about this. today, 11 of the 15 biggest trading partners has recently as 10-20 years ago were receiving aid from the united states of america. the triter is that one day that permits us to hope that our children and grandchildren can say same thing about partners today. when seven of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in africa, the opportunities

are obviously enormous, and rather than view our relationship with africa as defined by the obstacles we face, we literally are now able to define it by the opportunities that we can seize together. ..

thank you, secretary kerry, for those comments and your continuing leadership. our next speaker has given the domestic aids community her unwavering support. from implementation of the affordable care act to implementation of the national hiv/aids strategy. please welcome the secretary of health and human services, kathleen inteeb is a -- [applause] [applause] >> good afternoon. it's my great pleasure to spend some time with all of you today as we mark another world aids day. i want to start by thanking my colleague, secretary of state, john kerry, for not only his leadership during his years in the senate, but his continuing

focus on these issues that are so meaningful to the health and prosperity of people around the world. he's done a terrific job and is a wonderful partner. as he said, the. certificate a partnership effort. we are pleased to join u.s.a. certainly with the leadership of the acting u.s. global aids coordinator, debra. through dr. freeden and the terrific work of cbc and countries around the world who are delivering this life saving car. it's an amazing effort underwrai. we have a number of critical

health leaders here. certainly i'll mention a bit about the incredible research efforts underway. and i appreciate not only bill gate's leadership in the philanthropics front, but appreciate his willingness to come spend a little time today with our cutting edge scientists and researchers at nih and accept the invitation of dr. colins to come and give inspirational words to those leaders. grant colfax has done a spectacular job in the office under the president of coordinating this amazing effort. and it really is, i think, a

uniquely american effort where people are not fighting over turf but at the table together locking arms trying to figure out how we go forward together. but to those of you in the room today, who are here on the frontlines of this effort, not only in the united states but around the world, let me just start by saying thank you. thank you for the work that you have been doing for decades. thank you for the relationship and the pain staking effort. thank you for the resiliency in the face of the losses that have been so appropriately described. there was a lot of times to just give up. but that hasn't happened. and the rededication is. thank e and willing to fight on. i think we are all here because we share president obama's belief that an aids-free generation is within our reach. we are to continue to work

together to make it happen. clearly this president has made these issues an administration wide priority that is why we're all here today. and together with your help, we've shared that goal. we're decreasing the number of americans who become affected with hiv. we're increasing access to care and improving the health for outcome of people living with hiv. reducing hiv-related health disparity, and certainly you've heard a lot about contributing to the global efforts to respond to aids. moving forward, we need to keep in mind the dream of finding a cure and ending the epidemic. so we're here just a few days after thanksgiving, and clearly there's a lot to be thankful for in term of the progress we have made together. the hope, we're providing, the lives we're saving and

advancements we're making. cutting the -- aids drug assistance program from 9,000 to 0 in two years is a big step forward. barbara lee, i have to recognize your tee tenacious leadership. it's a formedble that leads the effort in the united states congress on behalf of the avenue aids community. we applaud those efforts. but reducing the waiting list to zero is a huge step. clearly we have come a long way since 1983 when congress first passed the bill funding aids research and treatment. just in 1983. there was a time not long ago clearly that getting an hiv diagnoses was a death sentence. but today hiv is a manageable medical condition. the science gives us great reason for optimism.

there are currently more than 30 safe and effective antiviral drugs and drug combinations. researchers continue to develop new treatments. what is more, we're making significant progress toward new medications and regimens that are longer lasting and simpler to use. with far fewer side effects. those regular min reduce the amount of hiv in the body. which helps people living with hiv stay healthy and live longer. and we also know from the nih funding research that hiv traps suggestion is drastically reduced when the amount of hiv virus in an infected person is reduced to undetectable leaflets. meanwhile partner agency at the fda has approved new rapid diagnostic test that can be used in a variety of settings to identify hiv infected individuals who might not be tested in traditional health

care settings. now as we speak, nih grant ees and scientists are exploring way to treat hiv infection by administrating hiv antibiotic. and they have begun early stage human testing of an antibody that was effective in producting human cells against more than 90% of the known hiv strands. last be but certainly not least. we have made significant progress since we met here last year. understanding how antibodies respond and how they evolve together with the hiv virus in the body of an infected person. these advances have brought us closer than ever to finally getting an effective vaccine. and one being step closer to finding a cure. so the announcement that the president just made about increasing funding for research by $100 million will allow us to further the important work being

lead by dr. jack, dr. anthony, and the incredible today at nih lead by dr. francis cool lib -- colin thank you for what you're doing. ultimately one of the most important things question go to combat the epidemic is raise awareness. so as we work to advance the research, we're also supporting nationally an hiv awareness campaign. and sharing research with community organizations and health departments across the country. last week's signing by the president of the bipartisan hope act is another step in the right direction. of making sure our federal policies are aligned with the most recent scientific understanding of hiv. information about all of these efforts is available at aids.gov. so we have a lot of work to be thankful for, but we still have a lot of work to do. the challenge we face is

substantial. 35 million people in the world are living with hiv aids. in 2012 alone, more than 2 million new hiv infections and 1.6 million aids-related deaths were reported across the globe. here in the u.s., more than a million of our neighbors and friends are infected. and millions more are affected by the loss of loved ones. so i want to share just a few brief thought on the national avenue -- hiv aids strategy which the president launched three years ago. because of this effort, we're doing more than ever to prevent hiv and deliver high-quality care to people living with hiv and keep them engaged in the care and improve outcome so they can live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. we've also been able to enhance and stream line the coordination of our own federal efforts. as a result, frontline providers

can concentrate on what matters most. providing high-quality hiv prevention and care services. with your help, we'll help more of our fellow americans flu the ryan white program in the years ahead. one of the ways that we're working to improve the quality of life of americans living with hiv, is to work with states to increase access to home and community-based care. so more people living with an hiv infection can live in their own homes, in their own neighborhoods, in their own community. for all the progress we have made, it's still the case that here in the united states one in six people living with hiv is undiagnosed. one in six. and only one in four people living in hiv here in the united states is able to achieve control over their own infections through medication comp is necessary for their own health and a critical strategy for preventing further

transmission to partners. that's why this july, the president issued an executive order launching the hiv care continuum initiative. with the goal of accelerating all of our federal efforts to help people get tested, get linked to care, stay in care, and get treated for hiv. today the white house released a report with the first set of recommendations from the federal working group. dr. howard, my assistant secretary of health has been working in close partnership with dr. grant cool fox here at the white house. dr. cocoa chaired the group. and i want to thank them. and i want to thank our partner at department of labor, hud, and veteran's administration. it's another example of the federal government breaking down silo and working together to

implement a national hiv aids strategy. and we are totally committed to implementing the recommendation. now as i close, i want to share with you a few of the ways that the historic affordable care act is contributing to our efforts to fight this epidemic. as you may know, the u.s. preventive services task force recommendation that clinicians screen for hiv infection in adolescence and adults aging 15 to 65 and that all pregnant women in the united states are screened for hiv. the new health care law makes that more possible by requiring all private health care plans to cover hiv testing and other preventive servicessed at no out -- services at no out-of-pocket costs. it makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage because they have hiv. beginning in january, no adults

will be denied coverage. the law makes illegal for insurance companies to rescind someone's coverage when they get sick because they made a mistake on the physical physical -- paperwork. next year annual dollar limits on benefit will be against the law as well. in most health care settings, it will finally be illegal to discriminate against someone because of their gender identity. to withhold care from someone when they need it most because of their gender expression. the new health insurance marketplace is an important tool to fight against hiv/aids. and we're working to make sure that site works well for the vast majority of americans. we know that medicate expansion, part of the effort under the health reform law is another critically important tool. for lower income americans,

medicaid expansion and often the difference between life and death. so far we have 25 states and the district of columbia deciding to expand their medicaid program to millions more lower income americans. if all 50 states take up the offer for expansion paid for largely by the federal government, nearly 80% of the over 40 million uninsured americans will be el jinl for new coverage either through the marketplace with financial assistance, through medicaid, or chip. that would be a huge step forward in this country to making sure people haved adequate health care. so with your help, we have made a tremendous amount of progress. we have much to be thankful for but there's more work to be done. all of you are in this room today because you refuse to give up. the fight to end this epidemic is a fight with can win. we have many reasons for hope and many of those reasons are sitting in this room today.

so again thank you all very much. working together with can achieve the goal of an aids-free generation. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] up next on c-span two connecticut democratic governor talk about the u.s. education system. and later a discussion about forensic and genetic at the u.s. legal system. the house panel look at president obama's use of executive power and making change to the health care law. constitutional scholars will testify. live coverage from the house judiciary tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern. and later in the day, a house subcommittee on global health will hear about the u.s. response to typhoon that hit the philippines in november. that's live at 3:00 p.m. eastern also on c-span2.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everyone. i'm going go ahead and get started. how are you doing this afternoon? i'm director of education policy studies here at the american enterprise institute. happy to welcome all of do you join us today for this promising and, i think, intriguing conversation with connecticut

governor. i'm delighted to have you with us and those of you watching at home either via live stream or on c-span2. the #for the event is #ct ed reform. fill free to follow along. we're going for an hour until 2:30. format will be straightforward. first governor malloy of connecticut has been kind enough to agree to share some thoughts on the -- dos and don'ts of school reform in connecticut. what are some of the lessons they have learned. i'm going have an opportunity to chat with the governor for 15 or 20 minutes asking a particular questions about some of the unfolding challenges teacher equality, teacher evaluation, common core subject one might expect arise. then we're going open for conversation and q & a. governor may loy was elected in

2010. took office in january of 2011. he's connecticut's first democratic governor in 20 years. upon taking office, he faced a largest per capita deficit in the country. total debt of about $3.5 billion. before taking office, he did several terms as mayor of stanford, connecticut from 1995 to 2009. and what's particularly relevant today for this conversation is promising to make 2012 the year of education in connecticut. he tackled reform agenda and a state long been known for one of the nation's widest racial achievement gaps. and the governor took the lead of passing one of the nation's more dramatic education bills signed in maif of 2012. it was public act 12116 and act concerning education reform. some of the packages most significant features required a new teacher evaluation pilot in

which 5% of the evaluation will be based on student learning. the governor's package created a commissioner's networking similar to the recovery school direct in louisiana. which is the ability to take authority over 25 of the state's lowest performing schools to date. 11 have been entered to the networking. and increased per pupil charter school funding to $10,500 in fiscal 2013. it will go to $11,500 by fiscal 2015. with that, let me turn the mic over to governor dan malloy. governor, it's all you. [applause] >> thank you, rick. it's great to be with you. i appreciate the opportunity to speak about an issue that is dear to my heard. one i have spent most of my public career working on both as mayor of the city of stanford but before that as a member of the board of finance and the

city of stanford. the board of education in the city of stanford, mayor for 1 years and now as governor of the state of connecticut. i like to talk about what really needs to happen in the united states and put in to an appropriate context. we've been in the business of educating on a public basis our children for a long, long time. but if you look at the rhetoric that is frequently used around education issues, it is old record. it's about giving children the opportunity to learn. an disiewx of opportunity is what we usually measure our success by. which is an interesting, if you think about it. where else would you hold yourself as successful for offering for sale a product that nobody loved. or that a substantial percentage of people failed to purchase? but in education, we had this idea that all we needed to do

was offer the opportunity to all of our students to learn. now that was didn't pay attention to the deaf silt they might have come to school with. didn't pay a lot of attention to issues such as poverty or family ashrine -- alignment. we just fairly going down the same road until it really became apparent that in the united we were failing to get the job done. and most certainly in comparison so test scores on similar tests among the various centralized country and all of a sudden we found out not only are we not leading in some categories we are far, far, far behind. and that ultimately will have a long-term impact on our economy. it was this belief that we had to get out of opportunity sharing and to success sharing

that is driven much of what i've talk about on education. and therefore if you start to think about that, it actually challenge -- changes your view of education. in to that, i stepped in to a situation as referenced by rick with one of the largest achievement gaps along racial line or zip codes in our type of community. however you want to describe it. haas the reality in connecticut. we have high, high, and low, low. in many cases they are ab adjoining zip codes. so we needed to do something about that. we needed to hold ourselves as governmental entities accountable for what we were doing on a state level, on a local jurisdictional level, both on by the leaders of political leaders of noneducation government as well as by the leaders of the education government that economists in the state of connecticut. and in to that, we have moved rather rapidly.

i have to also say at the outset i'm eni have use of teachers. their ability to impact on an intergenerational basis young people in the families of those young people ultimately will raise is an unbelievable gift many have accepted as their calling. and although we may not none ever us are perfect. the reality is that the state of connecticut is filled with teachers who are working very, very hard to get it right. and a point of fact, are demonstrating a willingness to change that method of pretty legally and -- excuse me, accept change and support change fundamental change, for instance, with respect to the common core where it is being embraced in the state of connecticut. i also have to say that we have to realize that teachers need the resources to be ready to do what they have to do. we're asking more of them. it's one of the reasons that in

the state of connecticut, we've made tsh gone in a different direction. we actually adding funds to education. particularly to fund our education initiatives. and we're concentrating much of that additional money on the lowest performing schools in the stay of connecticut. point of fact, 309 lowest perform school districts are getting a bulk of the money under terms they're not using it. it's by agreement on how the money is going to be spend. it's making sure that additional dollars initial achievement in those low performing districts. i'm fond of saying it's very much about changing our habits. when we sat down and looked at all of our school districts and look at those low performing districts. in almost every one of those low performing there was at least one outstanding school. in several of them.

several outstanding schools. but what you find is we're more likely to repeat our failure than successes fop put it a different way we're more likely to explain our successes is a way of supposed adding psychology support. that's a mind set that has to change. getting the most intensive additional tension as well as additional money. we also, as rick said, founded the commissioners networking. where we are empowered to work with the 25 lowst performing schools. schools are applying to get on the list. interestingly enough. and they're applying because we have interventions. which are locally committed to

locally driven different style. and additional found pay for the turn around of those schools. we have a school in new haven, which is basically run by the teachers and a new experimental model which is showing great success. we have another school in bridge port with a different model of operation but very much involved very great degree of involvement by its teachers union there. it's not a one-size-fits-all assumption when it comes to turning around low pressuring schools. it's a lot of attention, a little bit of hand holding, and just simply getting people on board and bringing them along. what you find out, by the way, when you enter a school is people really do want to do better. but they have not necessarily seen the road that will allow them to do that. so they keep their head down. once you give them the ability to lift their head to see a target, to make progress and measure that progress, it's

engaged in by more people than you might otherwise assume. i also have to say that this can be viewed simply as a prek or -- it's a prek issue. and also a college issue. and the aerospace industry faster than we're creating qualified personnel for those operations. you have to make significant change. and so prek. k through 12. higher education are things we're spending a lot of our time on a regular and daily basis trying to turn around and make work. how do you do it? fundamentally you have to get a buy in by the stakeholders. that include teachers.

i've already mentioned have a great job and this great responsibility in our democracy to raise up the next generation. but we also need -- i think too little time is spent in giving the too lates to parents to understand what is going on in school. and play an active role in turning around what is going on in school. i'm also fond of saying you're not going get as much buy in by the parents who so you poorly educate yourself in your systems as you would like. that's a certain reality. we have in some cases intergenerational failure we have to turn around. and so giving parents new tools to change their behavior with respect to support of education is very important. it's true we have to work with the teachers and as rick mentioned a new system of evaluation is now being implemented in the state of connecticut. that doesn't happy easily. it's not an easy thing to get

done. the reality is well before the package that we passed legislatively, work had already begun and the new evaluation system look like. and the fact that was actively participated by administrators, boards of education, and teachers. now that doesn't make a rollout any easier. there's a lot of confusion. i had to -- i had a discussion with my sister and one of my sisters-in-law yesterday and she's a teach. she's complaining to get all of her data on to the system, took her about three hours to do. i reminded her once it's in. it's in. and i understood that three hours hours hours is lot of time to build the new system on a individual basis. as i understand that. once we start this program, it will be the new way of doing things. and what is so very important ultimately we win teachers over on this.

quite frankly are afraid of it. the discussion being used by our duoassociations are unions of teachers very important with respect to what is going on and ultimately embracing the kind of change we have to embrace. funding for education. in technology and i mentioned direct in the holding room, one of the thicks that amazes me about education and government in general and if you look at other rollout of obamacare, you understand that our underinvestment in technology in many cases cripples us. as we move toward common core.

i was not one of the founders of the cob accept. but i will tell you this. i embrace it more more importantly my embraces of it. 72 fortunate of teachers embrace it. really only about 12% reject it. the teachers that studied it and thought about it and doing the preparatory work over the last intervening year since 2010 are getting it. and do believe that concentrating on fewer thing but going deeper concentrating on critical thinking is the right way go. i have to say additionally on this you have a legislative battle. you have a new legislative package. you have a new common core. you have a new evaluation

system. indian people think they are drinking out of a fire host in connecticut. it's not easy. i think that has to be made clear. once we get through this. we're going to have a clear road of higher achievement in our schools. we'll get away from what i said earlier. the concept we simply have an obligation to distribute opportunity. and hold ourselves responsible and school districts where we're failing to graduate 40% of our students. that's true in several of our lowest performing school districts. we need to hold ourselves, the mayor, boshedz of education, administrator need to hold ourselves accountable for what is going on in our schools. we're investing a lot of money and in our state a lot of additional money. we need to hold ourselves accountable. that's what i'm trying do do. by the way, funding partners and doing it.

with that, rick, we'll sit down and take some questions. [applause] last week you may have seen "politico" bro wrote a much-discussed story on secretary of education pointing out how challenges it is for states to implement so much of the agenda the obama administration has supported. charter school expansion, school turn arounds. teacher evaluation, so many of the notes you hit upon. curious are there particular point of the challenge that have been surprising or more severe? >> i think that there is a reality, by the way, in one of your article in september you actually drew some of the same

conclusions as i remember. it's hard. t hard for a state like connecticut that have taken a backseat on school reform for a long period of time. jux pox between massachusetts and connecticut leaders in education for a long period of time. massachusetts had been at school reform for about 12 years before we got involved. the graduation rate went up by 4.8% at the time when ours went down. we have actually turned it around already on the graduation rate side. they implemented a lot of things that we're trying to implement now. which means when it comes to doing common core, or making adjustments to some of the improvement they have passed, you know, as long as twelve years ago. they have an easier life than we do. we're try dog a lot shorter period of time. it's extremely complicated.

it's not -- they did anything wrong but not coming to the table or getting it done earlier as i referenced where it's rather like drinking out of a fire hose. you want a new evaluation system. you want a new way of distributing additional dollars. you want to hold people accountable for how the dollars are being spend. you want to change the tests we're going to use to measure ourselves by. and you want to institute common core. all of that at once is a hard job. [laughter] one of the places there's been as much tension anywhere is new teacher evaluation system. in the connecticut reform package you pushed to make sure the student learning was, you know, metrics particular student achievement was a factor. i'm curious how it's played out. are there concern on teachers

part. where do you can have question about? thing are concern on typers part. there's worry. different time of the year. having said that, you know, we've studied a lot of these challenges and other states and that first year is always difficult. once people get on board, they understand it's not a risk to them. and point of fact, the vast majority of our teachers in the school systems are doing a great job and recognized as doing a great job. but you need to hold ourselves accountable. as i said not for is giewx of opportunity. one of the way to measure student achievement. and use it as a tool to understand how we're doing.

we didn't do it in education. now we are doing it. >> what do you say to parents or teachers who say, you know, i'm concerned putting more and more weight on reading and math test and this is distorting the purpose of school? >> yeah. i think that and i, you know, i probably use some of that rhetoric myself over the last 18 years concerned about reliance on testing. but then when you -- there's nobody teaching third grade spelling without doing a test every friday. there's nobody who is teaching math without holding a kid more accountable for how they do on a testing every wednesday in their class. that is we do test.

i think what we're really talking about is using tests for different purpose. it's like using a test as mirror. you have to look yourself in the face. that's scary, that's hard. an so you need to work with your stakeholders. your teachers, their representatives. your administrators. as i referenced connecticut was working on a cooperative basis for several years before our package came before the legislature on what that would look like. in fact one of the unions called for immediate implementation of that system even before we had started the process. i think all of us in education whether it's on the political side, like myself, on the union representation side or in the classroom or by building have to speak about this a little bit more clearly. we need have an honest and frank conversation about what we're

getting at. we have to make sure we don't test to the teach. it's very important. >> so in light of thinking about the role of the tests, randy president of the american federation of teachers has exprez concern that especially in new york we saw it recently that with state transition common core test. they are rolling out teacher evacuation system. they wind up being evaluated on testing which are being piloted during the phrase. i'm curious how you think about the challenge. >> tingst a real concern and challenge. i think we're going to get through it.

making sure where they fit in the world. if connecticut had done some of these things years before, what you just described wouldn't be so difficult. this is what we're doing to make it a little bit easier. we are giving people time to implement. it's not changing overnight. the mechanics what we're doing changed. but we're giving people time to get used to the new system. we also gave the option to our school districts on what tests they wanted to administrate this year. you know, the common core tests coming in. we needed to gate third of the districts to use that. we said, hey, you want to use connecticut standards tests. you can use those. you want to use the new testing protocol? you can use that. we don't want to make you use both. so make a choice. and overwhelmingly people move

to the common core test. they are ready for it. one of the turn around schools i rempsed in my opening is new haven alternative school program. run by the teachers in the building. at the end of may, they told

every freshman they were not going to advance that year. every one of them. they gave them a road map to advancement back to the school and given a road map to advancement and some of them are now advancing in september even october, november, they are advancing back to their class level. that was a decision made by teachers affiliated with the aft, randy has been very active in new haven. not just in how she describes it but also getting to the point where there's a higher degree of engagement. doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people that aren't worried about change. they are still there. you're seeing every day as more and more people embracing that change. >> on the common core which we tested on a little bit, obviously, it's adopted by doesn't states with relatively little discussion in '09 and 2010.

i'm curious from your research what kind of concerns. how are you drying to address those? why you can't look at this in a vacuum. there are people who grab the common core to make the political argument. political argument runs somehow that those people have washington have caused it to happen and we should resist as well as we can implementation of common core. it runs in the face of reality. and that is a bunch of governors got together and decided that in a worldwide competition, we weren't doing very well. we weren't educating our children to the level of we needed to do to do that. to remain competitive.

designing the curriculum by now being attacked as if barack obama himself has come up with this common core. having said that, i think that i'll use the number, you know, by survey in connecticut. 72% of teachers in the infected area. we talk about math, science, talking about literacy, embrace it. 12eu7%. only two or three depending on how the question is asked, only two or three percent think that -- and the other when you have the embracing of the concept. when teachers and administrators have enough time to look at what is what people want to emphasize, then i think they're moving in the right direction. we're certainly seeing that in connecticut. no large scale movement to delay

or abandon common core, i think there's a recognition that we need to hold ourselves accountable for success. excuse me. >> did you think about the common core? what a couple of key strengths you think it offer. is there anything in particular about the implementation you are nervous about? >> key strength. again, to reintegrate i think fewer things but deeper and the ability to use those things the learning successfully. whether it's in support of critical thinking, or whether it's simply in the mathematics. are we able to an the question properly and get to it properly? i think that is the real strength. i think that this kind of one-size-fits-all has not worked particularly well. expose everybody to everything in the hope that kept someone's fancy and decide to develop

their lives to one thing you gave them a snapshot on -- in, you know, the prek through 12 education system. i don't think that's worked as well as we thought it well. or certainly not working as well as it needed to an an international basis for the united states. we've decided to go deeper. fewer emphasis on critical think. >> what are the keys going to be, do you think, to make sure that vision of change instruction is delivered upon? >> well, there's a couple of thing. the least of which is, you know, we have schools and school districts that don't have the right technology to deliver that testing as well as they could. that's one of the reasons we stepped forward just in the last couple of weeks and announced 24 million dollars additional for technology upgrades and school system. touch,ing about 111 school districts in the state of connecticut. at the same time we recognize

they are making some of their own investment as well. we want to support it. another thing that we've done in the state of connecticut for the first time we're actually budgeting continuing education. state dollars for continuing education. as we urge people to change their approach to continuing education from large auditorium. you close the day for make everybody heart same lecture and precious limb chance for real discussion among teachers and those leading the discussion. we're trying to change that to be supportive of the larger change we want to see made in the school system across the state. >> how much per pupil is spent in connecticut today? >> it varies widely. from district to district. it is one of the largest state programs that is kind of distribution of dollar and the education cost sharing grant allocation no district has lost

any money since i've become governor. but the vast majority of the additional dollars have gone to those districts most in need. that's a break for the past. previously if you put additional money in to the education cost sharing grant fund, it would be distributed as it had been in the past. if you got x percent you get x percent of the increase. it doesn't make sense to do that when you realize you have much bigger problems in a much smaller number of districts that you have to find a way to turn around and focusing that turn around is very important. and part that have is dollars. it's not to say every dollar. i'm not saying every dollar in education has been spent wisely in connecticut by high performing district or low performing districts. we have to hold ourselves accountable to how we spend the dollars from this point forward. >> so for instance, what is people spending in hartford or new haven today? >> i have round numbers so i don't --

i don't -- you know, we're spending in a sense of dependenting how you read it out. what you put in to the expenses well in excess of $12 ,000 across the board. some districts are spending substantially more than that. some are spending a little less than that. i think if you look at kind of an average, and there are two different ways to measure it. the 12,000 could diswrowmp 15 or 16. we're spending a lot of money in education in connecticut. >> do you think the figure ought to be higher across the board. >> ting ought to be higher in certain placeses. again, i go back to this different districts face different problems.

or a different model might not work better. if you deal with issues of poverty and poverty as we know is concentrated in our society. some are rural. many are urban. don't be surprised that different intervention model need to be used in some cases they are more sensitive. on the other hand, i think we ultimately have to hold everybody accountable for how they spend every dollar. and make sure dollars are being used wisely. i referenced it a little while ago when we look at the 30 low performing districts in almost every one of the districts there was one or two outstanding school that compare across the board. in the state of connecticut. but what we found is those models weren't being replicated in the other schools. that very same strict. you have to get at that. we don't as many money or costs

more money. or can't do it. there's some reason to argue it's not a model that work system wide. i tend to believe we know it works. we know the longer school days work. that's why connecticut is in partnership with the ford foundation on extending hours of operation. we have three school districts that are actively engaged in adding 300 hours to the curriculum every year by extending day. i visited two of the schools in the american district great success. numbers rising much more rapidly than anywhere else -- by and large.

in colorado, of course, a month ago. billion dollar proposed living lead -- gotten through the legislature. it went down the two to one as remp dumb. curious as you think it speaks to public appetite for additional dollars for education at this point, is that kind of any relevant? did you think about it in connecticut? i've been governor for three years. if we hadn't done the things to support education. doing both both going to a school system like new haven or bridge port or new london or new

britain taking teachers out of the building and not replacing them is not a way you draw higher achievement. and so we came up with a different model. that was to concentrate where we're going spend additional dollar on those districts that by various models had higher intriewmplet needs. one of the proposals you put forward is expansion for prek. i'm curious what vision you have for expanding prek. >> i've been at prek for a long time. when i was may '04 -- mayor i chose to move it in the direction of being able to guarantee a prekindergarten learning experience regardless of the parent's financial

status. we weren't going add additional year of kindergarten. we went to a hybrid model. we turned for not for profit agency we overseen child care as well as education services in the community. you said we want you to run the program. we went in to the community and got folks signed up. everyone who got signed up had to have some skin in the game. they had to take some amount of money out their pocket. we made sure it was scaled to their income. but we provided additional services. we helped parents learn english. we provided medical services. we fed the kids. and lo and behold, it works. we know what works. longer school day, starting

education earlier, it all works. having a larger vocabulary the day you walk in leads to additional success. it's less time spent catching up. they know the numbers, the letters, colors they have literacy skills. and the other half of the kids don't. then you ask that teacher, which group are you going spend more time on? and the reality is, we shouldn't have to question it. because everybody should have that. we know it works. and we know it's one of the best ways to close what is a huge achievement gap at the end of 13 years by closing it at the beginning. i think it's the biggest bang

for the buck. >> and as mayor, how did you find the resources for the program? >> well, we changed the model so we could actually provide the experience to more children at less cost. you think about school-district run programs. they are expensive model. it's the reason we have an expanded model and most school districts. it was just too expensive. we require everybody have cirnt garden through 12. we didn't require them to have prek. once you change the model and get to more cost-effective model. >> what are some of the key pieces to make it more cost-effective? understand a little bit about biology. understand about, you know, the given strength of 3 and 4-year-old. they not learn for eight hour

straight or six hours or for that matter three hours. the day has to be broken up. a fair amount of the day is spent in supporting learning but not necessarily in instruction. and so do you need -- who is running the classroom or the education portion of the day? i think an effective and important issue. if you can find a way to supervise those activities to be supportive of learning but not tie up the teach for the full day then you get more done. >> this means more adults who are not necessarily trained teachers but supporting roles which makes them cheaper presumably. >> that would be part of it. also giving you a schedule ability. particularly if you have an all-day program paying everyone as a certified teacher for all-day program may not make sense.

>> one last question then open it up. i'm curious if there's any other tack away or lesson from your tenure of mayor that informed your thinking on education in the governor's mansion? >> i think we have found ways to make educational spending more effective. and, you know, when i became mayor of the city of stanford we had an it department for the city of stanford. and the board of education, we had computers that were aging out before they were installed. there weren't enough people to get them installed in school finance happened in district after strict around the country. we decided to put the efforts together. and work together. and we lifted the technology integration way back in the dark ages of 1995, '96, '97. we -- the use of technology substantially in a relatively short period of time in

stanford. the other thing i found was that when i became mayor of the city of stanford facility. if you talk about communities, the single largest investment that almost every community across the country has is its school is the physical infrastructure. it's the most expensive building. has a lot of technology and a lot of stuff in the building. if you scratch the surface, as i did when i was new mayor of stanford. i realized the guy who was overseeing the paint then and construction of buildings had a doctorate in councilling. and point of fact there was not a single architect, there was not single engineer who worked for the system at that time. ..